It seems like if anyone else were able to be super skinny 5k's in 17:00 or under would be common. Anyone agree? I often think I'm talented with my 16's in the 5k but then I realize I'm skinny as hell. Most of the guys behind me are heavier. If they were lighter I feel like they'd be with me.
It is kind of like being tall really helps with basketball.
The difference is that I could get skinny with some effort, but I won't go from 5'8" to 6'3" no matter what I do.
Chris Solinsky doesn't
Skinny obviously helps, but I had a similar thread in which I polled the group "Were you the fast kid growing up?" I got a lot of responses in which people said they were - until around junior high or high school. Then the fast people tended to blow them away.
The takeaway seems to be that (good) runners are built for speed in terms limb lengths, tendon attachment points, and slender builds. But eventually the kids with more fast twitch muscle blow by them. But even so, the good runners tend to have well above average natural speed.
You have to be skinny to be fast, but being skinny doesn't make you fast. There are lots of skinny, unathletic people in the world. Skinny is only one of many requirement for fast distance running.
Could anyone get skinny and run a 17 minute 5K? No.
Pre is my favorite wrote:
Chris Solinsky doesn't
160 pounds and a sub 27 10K.
chicken or the egg. They are skinny because they are fast. I'm skinny, only because I've put in the mileage to be faster than average.
Pre is my favorite wrote:
Chris Solinsky doesn't
Chris Solinsky is skinny
There are a ton of skinny people who can't run worth crap, just like there are a ton of tall people who are not good at basketball at all.
My junior year of college I weighed 160 in indoor and ran 16:49. (I was usually around 16:20-16:50) I dropped down to 131 in outdoor and ran (15:50-15:20). My training was exactly the same. The only difference was my weight. The only reason I got faster was because I got skinny.
Vo2 goes up as you lose weight.
ftge wrote:
chicken or the egg. They are skinny because they are fast. I'm skinny, only because I've put in the mileage to be faster than average.
This^. I'm skinny BECAUSE I put in tons of mileage. If I were to stop running, I would likely blow up like many of my now fat high school teammates.
Now that I'm fat and slow, yeah, I think being skinny helped a lot.
Fat guy at Oak Harbor wrote:
skinny dip wrote:This^. I'm skinny BECAUSE I put in tons of mileage. If I were to stop running, I would likely blow up like many of my now fat high school teammates.
No one's disputing that. Obviously, running a lot helps you stay skinny. Thanks for that revelation - be sure to alert the media.
The question was if anyone could become fast if they got skinny. The answer to that question is no. There are lots of skinny people who can't run fast.
I was responding to the guy above me, which is why I QUOTED HIM.
And you're missing the point of his question. Of course not all skinny people are fast. Duh. He asked if people heavier than him could beat him if they lost some weight. And the answer to that is maybe. I've run with guys who were much faster and talented than me and who stopped running for various reasons. Consequently they gained weight, and i'm sure I could beat them now. BUT, if they were to start running again and lose the weight, I guarantee they would run faster than me.
Not to quibble, but yeah, I can say for sure that I suck because I'm a lardball, or more specifically I suck more and more the fatter I get. But I also recall a number of kids coming out for distance who were not only whippet thin but had that "natural stride" and looked for all the world like the next 9:00 type, only top watch them struggle to run a single mile in 5:30 after a full season of training. It must suck to be skinny and terrible at the few things skinny people are assumed to do well. Like being a Chinese dude who stinks at math, a Jew who can't stop bouncing checks or a Russian who cannot get past the lowest level when playing the computer at chess.
You forget to include "a korean who loses to D level scrubs on ICCup in Starcraft".
no, I am this fast because I train really hard.
Anyone faster than me is just more talented.
Lol you aren't talented being a male and running 16's. I'm a girl and my PR is 15.50, an no, I am not skinny
I saw a well known runner at 122 lbs. and she was good. A year later she weighed 114 lbs and was great. Part of it was training but toning up was a factor too.
Are you skinny or has everyone else gotten fat?
Anyone think the fast-marathon boom of the 70s was in part driven by a significantly lighter (not obese) American population?
Is it any surprise that the "I just started running" story of the occasional east African marathon winner is in part due to the fact that they are starting at 110lbs??
Anyone thinking they need to drop another 10lbs to be competitive at the next level is probably right.